Air conditioning apparatus



Feb. 20, 1940. w. s. SOMERS AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed June 22,1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 JISqmers, M h

Feb; 20, 1940. w. s. SOMERS AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed June 22,1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 glllig 5 a 7 1 a l My m m fi/ 1 hi fl SUM/6 n x 61 n" 2 6 6 Feb. 20, 1940. w. s. soMERs AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jun 22. 1358 Willazmfifiomw,

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Feb. 20, 1940. w. s. SOMERS 2,190,998

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed June 22, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 4:

Patented at. 20, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR CONDITIONINGAPPARATUS William S. Somers, Columbus, Ohio Application June 22, 1938,Serial No. 215,254

4 Claims.

This invention relates to air conditioning apparatus of the type adaptedfor controlling the temperature and other properties of atmospheresprevailing in residence or building rooms, or

5 other wall-confined areas.

In certain of its more specific aspects, theinvention provides a heatingsystem for residences and other purposes wherein forced circulation ofconditioned air is provided in combination with 10 steam or hot waterheated radiator units.

In most of the forced air house heating systems commercially availableat present, solid or fluid type fuels are burned to generate hot gaseswhich are directed against the internal walls of 18 'heat exchangers andultimately pass to the atmosphere, the air to be heated being forced orvdrawn over the outer walls of such exchangers by passage through aconfined casing, so that the air is thereby heated to requiredtemperatures go for room delivery and passed through associated ducts orconduits to the rooms under temperature control. Most of these systems,operating under automatic or thermostatic regulation, provideintermittent high and low stage operations. Dur- 35 ing high; stageoperation, the fuel burners are operated at maximum capacity to quicklyheat the walls of the heat exchangers in order to satisfy the heatrequirement as rapidly as possible, after which the burners are shutdown to go low stage or pilot operation until a heat demand is againpresented. These alternate requirements for quickly developed high stageoperation result-in considerable fuel waste and'produce an undesiredvariation in temperature of the room 35 atmospheres in the intervalsbetween high and low stage operation.

Steam and hot Water systems of the radiator type have had long andsuccessful use in residence and-building applications, producing a highdegree of warmth with economical fuel consumption. However, these lattersystems require the placing or radiators in the individual rooms to beheated together with associated piping and control valves leading fromthe furnace "or boiler,

with the result that the same are not adaptable in general to the moremodern forced air types of heating systems wherein room radiators areeliminated.

It is, therefore, a leading object of the inven- 5 tion to incorporatein a-modern forced air heating system a centrally disposed heating unitof the boiler-radiator type, wherein'the radiator or radiators islocated in the same general casing as the boiler or combustion unit, andwherein l6 provision is made for forcing air to be heated over theradiator or radiators and thence through associated conduits to thevarious spaced points of room delivery, this system making possible theuse of the economical and eificient hot water or steam heating units andthe minimizing of '5 temperature differentials in the rooms under heatcontrol.

Another object of the invention is to provide a heating system wherein acentrally disposed heater is used consisting primarily of a fuel-fired10 boiler or steam generator which is arranged within a casing havingcommunicating air inlet and discharging chambers, the boiler orgenerator having its water drum connected with a heat exchanger of theradiator type also mounted within said casing and so disposed thatthermal circulation of hot water or steam from the drum of the generator-to the radiator is provided, provision being made in the system toeffect the forced passage of air to be heated over the outer surfaces ofthe radiator and thence to the rooms to be heated, together with thereturn and filtration of the air following cooling thereof to the inletchamber of the casing prior to the re-passage of such air over theradiator.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a heatingor air conditioning system which is essentially simple andeconomical inits design and operation and which may be readily installed with aminimum of labor and expense in practically all types of residential andothe buildings.

taken through the apparatus on the plane indicated by theline H--II ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan viewdisclosing the casing and plenum housing of theheating apparatus;

Fig. 4. is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken through the plenumhousing and also disclosing the radiator section of the heating system;i

Fig. 5" ais a horizontal sectional view taken on the planindicated bythe line Vf-Vmf Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a similar horizontal sectional view as Fig. 5, but disclosingan alternative arrangement of the dividing wallspf the plenum;

Fig. 7 is a detail horizontal sectional view on the line VlIVII of Fig.and disclosing the heat insulating jackets for the boiler or steamgenerator;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional view illustrating the jointsuniting communicating sections of the air discharging conduit of theheater casing, the plane of the figure being indicated by thelineVIIIVIII of Fig. l;

Fig; 9 is a similar view on the line IX-IX-of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a vertical sectional view through a modified form of heatercasing wherein the boiler or steam generator is disposed in a separatechamber of the casing assembly;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view of a further modified form of the presentinvention wherein a single boiler or steam generator is employed tosupply a heated fluid to a multiplicity of spaced radiators,

as in apartment house installations wherein individual control for eachapartment is required with the use of a central heating unit.

Fig. 12 is a further modified form of the invention wherein the heatexchanger is arranged in both the return air and outgoing aircompartments of the plenum housing of the heater casing.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and especially to the formof the present invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive thereof,

. the numeral l designates the ohter casing of my improved heatingapparatus.

be formed from sheet metal of relatively thin This casing may the casingI is disposed in the cellar, basement or forced by angular frames 25.-Connected with the frames 25 are air inlet or'return conduits 26 furnaceroom of a residence or other building, and because of its attractiveexternal appearance, the same does not. in any way detract from thesetting it, may occupy.

Within the casing, there is arranged a refractory furnace box 2 having acombustion chamher 3. Any suitable type of fuel may be burned withinthis chamber, either solid or fluid. In the present instance, however,an automatic hydrocarbon fluid burner has been indicated at 4, with itsburner discharge pipe 5 entering the chamber 3, the burner as a wholebeing arranged within a compartment 6 formed in the lower right handcorner of the casing I (see Fig. 1). Air for the operation of the burner4 enters the casingby way of the opening I, which is normally closed bymeans of a screen or its equivalent 8. The combustion gases, generatedin the chamber 3, are utilized to heat a water boiler or drum 9 in orderto effect the development of steam and, following eration. As shown inFig. 1, the jacket L'ia may be formed with a plurality of perforationsto allow a limited circulation of 'air between the Jacket and the boilerwalls, the quantity of air admitted being controlled by the number andsize of the openings.

The steam or hot water outlet of the boiler or drum 9 is connected bymeans of piping H with the upper manifold l2 of a stationary heatexchanger in the form of a substantially horizontallydisposed radiator.Hi. The latter, in this instance, comprises the upper manifold l2 and aparallel somewhat lower outlet manifold I 4, the two manifolds beingconnected by means of a plurality of spaced parallel, transverselyextending tubes l-5v of considerably smaller diameter than saidmanifolds, and heat radiating fins iii are joined with the tubes I5 andextend transversely thereof in parallel spaced relationship with oneanother.

The outlet manifold I4 has its opposite ends I connected with returnpiping I! which leads to the bottom of the drum or boiler 9, in orderthat the cold or condensed heating fluid may be returned to said boileror drum for reheating. Also, a pressure balancing pipe l8 unites'thepiping I l with the return piping I! immediately ahead of the point ofentry of the latter into the bottom of the boiler drum. By thisarrangement, thermal circulation of the heating 'fiuid is automaticallymaintained with but a minimum of equipment and without the use ofspecial injector means for the return of feed water leading to theboiler..

Mounted on top of the casing I is a plenum housing l9. Preferably, thishousing includes rectangular and vertical side walls 20 and a horizontaltop wall 2|. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the walls 20 have their verticaledges terminated in inwardlyextending adjoining flanges'22, whicharewelded or otherwise secured together. These flanges act as guide ribsfor the reception of the outer vertical edges of a pair of removabledivisional plates 23--23. The side walls 20' of the housing l9 areformed with openings 24 reenand, with other sides of the housing, airoutlet or discharge conduits 21. By the removal of the top wall 2|, itwill be seen that the plates 23 may be adjusted to assume differentpositions in the thereof, whereas in Fig. 6, the said plates 23 arespOSitiOlled so that the conduits 26 for the dis-.

charge of warm'air are situated at'the top and at the right side of thefigure and the return conduits 26 for the cool air at the left andbottom portions of the figure. This arrangement provides veryconsiderable flexibility in the matter of heater casing installation andenables the conduits 26.and 2'! to be disposed wherever mostadvantageous, depending upon the physical conditions present in the roomin which the heater casing is located and with respect to the positionwhich the heater casing is to occupy in said room, the arrangementavoiding the crossing of the ducts, avoids interference with head roomin a low ceiling basement-or cellar, and also enables theducts to beconcealed to advantage between floor supporting joists or the like.

As shown in Fig. 5, cool air returning from the rooms of a buildingheated by the apparatus, enters the compartments 28 of the plenumhousing and passes downwardly through the open bottom of thesecompartments into the interior of the casing l, passing freely aroundthe piping II, I! and I8, the outer portions of the drum 9 and the ductl0, absorbing any heat which may be released from the surfaces of theseelements. The return air thus drawn into the casing is then passedthrough one or more filter elements 29, composed of glass wool, or otherequivalent ma-- terial, by which fine solids, carried in suspension inthe returned air, may be caught in the strands of the filter andpermanently trapped thereby. The filtered air is then delivered into a.chamber and enters the suction side of a blower or fan 3| operated by anelectric motor 32. From the discharge side of the blower or fan 3|,a'vertical upwardly extending conduit section 33 leads the air in aconfined stream in an upward direction, the section 3i terminating atits upper end in outturned flanges 34 which, as shown in Figs. 8 and '9,are joined with compiemental flanges 35 provided on the lower edges ofan angularly directed conduit section 36 which opens at its upper endinto the central compartment 31 of the plenum housing, this compartmentbeing in open communication with the warm air discharge ducts orconduits 21. Also situated in the upper portion of the duct section 36is the radiator or heat exchanger l3. As the air advanced from thefan orblower through the conduit sections 33 and 35 contacts with the highlyheated exterior surfaces V of the radiator, including its manifolds l2and I4,

. of sight.

ed casing so that they do nottake up space in the rooms of a buildingand, moreover, are out The arrangement permits of the use of therelatively small cross-sectional conduits now used in forced air heatingsystems and the correspondingly small inlet and outlet registers in theroom walls. Aside from operating economy and simplicity, the outstandingadvantage of,

the water vapor radiator type of heating element is the remarkableuniformity of room temperatures over prolonged periods of time, it beingpossible with the use of this system to hold room temperatures betweenlimits of but a few degrees of variation.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 10, the casingla is provided internally with a divisional wall 40, which providesseparate compartments 4| and 42 for the reception of the boiler or steamgenerator and the the air distributing and controlling elements,respectively. In the form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 11, theheat exchanger or radiator and the air circulating units are disposed ina casing 45 which is separate and spaced from the generator or boiler 9.Installations of this kind 7 are highly practicable for use in apartmentbuildings or the like, where it is desired to provide separate controlfor the heating of each individual apartment with a common boiler orsteam generator for all of the units 45. In Fig. 11, a steam supply pipe46, leading from a suitable source of steam'generation enters the casing45 and is connected with the radiator unit disposed therein. The pipe-46 is provided with a control valve 41 by means of which the steamsupply to the radiator unit may be shut off. This and 5| respectively.The casing 45 includes filters.

54 and a motor driven fan or blower 55. The casings 45 are comparativelysmall and compact and will occupy but a minimum of room in an apartment,or they may be placed at any other convenient point in an apartmentbuilding.

In Fig. 12, the heat exchanger or radiator l3, instead of being locatedonly in the air discharging compartment of the plenum housing, as shownin the preceding figures of the drawings, is extended so that portionsthereof will be disposed in the receiving or return air compartments ofthe plenum housing, as indicated at l3a. Such an arrangement permits theair returning tothe heater casing to be preheated prior to its passagethrough the fan or blower 3|. It will be understood that it is withinthe scope of the invention to circulate a cooling fluid through the heatexchanger in periods of warm weather if it should be so desired.

What is claimed is:

1. In air conditioning apparatus, a heating unit comprising a casingdivided internally into inner and outer chambers, steam generating meanspositioned in said outer chamber, a heat exchanger disposed in saidinner chamber, said exchanger being in communication with saidgenerator, a manifold provided at the top of said casing, partitionmeans separating said manifold into warm and cool air'sections, theformer communicatin with said inner chamber and the latter with said.outer chamber, and a motor driven blower positioned at the inlet tosaid inner chamber, the inlet to said blower being-in open communicationwith said outer chamber.

2. In air conditioning apparatus, a heating unit comprising a casingdivided internally into inner and outer chambers, steam generating meanspositioned in said outer chamber, a heat exchanger disposed in saidinner chamber, said exchanger being in communication with saidgenerator, a manifold provided at the top of said casing, partitionmeans separating said manifold into warm and cool air sections, theformer communicatin with said inner chamber and the latter with saidouter chamber, a motor driven blower positioned at the inlet to saidinner chamber, the inlet to said blower being in open communication withsaid outer chamber, and means for filtering the air prior to itsentrance into said blower.

3. In air conditioning apparatus, a heating unit comprising a casingdivided internally into inner and outer chambers, steam" generatingmeans positioned in said outer chamber, a heat exber, the inlet to saidblower being in open communication with said outer chamber.

4. In air conditioning apparatus, a heating unit comprising a casing, amanifold provided at the top of said casing, partition means separatingsaid manifold into warm and cool air sections, a hollow substantiallyvertically extending-column provided in said casing, the upper end ofsaid column communicating with the warm air section of said manifold,the cold air section of the manifold being in open communication withthe interior of said casing, a steam generator position in said casing,a heat exchanger extending transversely of said column, means forconnecting said heatexchanger with said generator, a motor driven blowerhaving the' outlet thereof connected with the lower end of said column,the inlet of said blower being in open communication with the interiorof said casing, and an air filtering partition extending. across saidcasing between the inlet to said blower and said generator.

WILLIAM S. SOMERS.

